L.A. Then, Now

I recently arrived in Los Angeles from Sweden. My relatives picked me up at the train station and drove me down Sunset to their home in the Echo Park area. I was shocked to see graffiti on walls and newly painted buildings. We stopped for lunch on Sunset Boulevard. The street was so full of litter you could hardly walk without stepping on a bottle or can. My last visit to L.A. was in 1940. What a difference--a clean city then. What has happened to your City of the Angels?